[1991]
Lyrics & Music by Anne Feeney
Album: Have You Been to Jail for Justice? [2001]

This song was featured on Bill Moyers and is the theme of the Justice at Walmart campaign. I wrote it during the Staley Strike in Decatur, IL in the early 90s. This recording features Jon Fromer, Janet Stecher and Susan Lewis on backup vocals and Charlie Chadwick on bass, Sam Bacco on percussion, and me and Mike McAdam on guitars. The two people named in the song died .... Jim Beals when he was ordered into a tank filled with poison gas, and Karen Silkwood when she tried to expose dangerous practices at her place of employment, Kerr-Magee.

Fannie Sellins, a union organizer known as the “Angel of Mercy”: gave her freedom and life defending free speech, demanding the right to organize, and helping the poor struggling mining and steel families of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Due to brutally long work days 7 days a week, low pay, and dangerous unhealthy working conditions, there was much worker unrest in the mining and steel industries at the time of the First World War. With 12 hour days workers had little time or energy for family, education, recreation, or religion. The mining and steel companies with near total control of the police, courts, and newspapers crushed efforts of workers to unionize and fight for better working conditions. Free speech and public meetings were banned in the cities and towns surrounding Pittsburgh. Workers were fired for... (Continues)

"I wrote this circa 1970 at the age of 18. It probably had as much to do with education as with the notion in the song that freedom stolen from a prisoner is not automatically returned at the end of the sentence.
I believe I was arguing against the defeatism suffered by some when the struggle for justice is stymied. As Howard Zinn once said, the changes that we effect are not always visible in the context of our own lives, at least not entirely, as the borders of history are wider than that."

Twilight has blanketed old country jail (Continues)

Contributed by giorgio 2010/1/4 - 19:36

"In the original I had more verses, but then somehow they didn’t suit and so I deleted them...though I still have the old recording around here somewhere.."

"In the 1960s and 70s I grew to love British and Celtic music, both traditional as well as the working people's songs of Ewan McColl, Lew Killan and others. This was a song that I wrote around that time reflecting that.."

[2007]
Lyrics & Music by Dave Gwyther
Album: Wars Will Cease...When We Refuse To Fight Them

Barman (on me entering the pub hosting that evenings open mic): – So what type of music do you play? –
Me (on my 2nd ever live performance): – Oh, some of my own stuff –
Barman: – Well, we had this kid in here last week singing anti-Vietnam war songs. I hope you're not singing about war. –
Me: – Um, yeah. That was me. –
(on the microphone when I got up there): – I'll stop singing about it when we stop causing it –

« Sometimes it feels like the whole world is coming down ».
A ballad, dedicated to Robert Dzienkański, a Polish Immigrant killed in British Columbia by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His only crime was not knowing the English Language...

For the family of LCDR Michael Scott Speicher, whose plane went down January 17th, 1991, the first night of the Operation Desert Storm air war. No part of Lieutenant Speicher’s body has ever been found and he is presumed to have survived and been captured by Iraqi forces. His official status remained KIA-BNR, killed in action – body not recovered, until January 11th, 2001, when it was officially changed to MIA – missing in action. The most liberal and most conservative of families, losing a loved one to war, share a same common loss, cutting deep beyond all ability of words to describe.

I'm living as long as I'm learning.
As I'm not educated the oldest Danish books I can read is from the 17. century.
The song talks about peace and justice, however supported by the sword: hvor retsind fører sværdet.
It is included in the songbook of the Danish Womens International League for peace and freedom in 1949, but I don't think at the present, that it belongs to my forthcoming volume of the history of Danish Peace songs.
Højskolesangbogen, the songbook of the Danish Folk High Schoools, mentions Chr. Thurah as translater: Biskop Thomas af Strängnäs o.1439 på dansk ved Chr. Thurah 1862 til melodi af Carl Nielsen 1920.
From the Royal Library:
Teksten blev i 1862 oversat og delvist omarbejdet af præsten Christian Henrik de Thurah (1830-98) og i 1862 trykt under titlen "Mester Thomas’s Frihedssang" i præsten P.O. Boisens (1815-1962) Samling af Svenske Viser og Sange til Skolebrug... (Continues)